Past Bedtime
by Coral in the moon
Summary: Axl and Ty can't sleep because of reasons. That's what big brothers are for. "Go away," he groaned. "Scared," said a little voice, and a weight settled on his bed next to him. "I said go away." He pulled his pillow over his head and shoved blindly at the disturbingly-big-for-his-age lump trying to wriggle in bed with him.


**It's not really canon in terms of their ages - Axl should be a baby and Anders sounds slightly older than he should be. I'm not normally sloppy like this :/ don't really know what I was thinking, but I only realised after I wrote it. Might rewrite it one day.**

**Feedback would be lovely :)**

* * *

Anders was trying to sleep when a knock sounded and the door opened.

"Go away," he groaned.

"Scared," said a little voice, and a weight settled on his bed next to him.

"I said go away." He pulled his pillow over his head and shoved blindly at the disturbingly-big-for-his-age lump trying to wriggle in bed with him.

"Don't want."

"Are you very sleepy?" came Ty's voice as the door shut.

Giving up, Anders chucked his pillow at Ty and rolled over to glare at Axl. "I was. Now get off my bed and go sleep. Somewhere else."

Axl was already firmly ensconced in Anders's bed. "Don't want."

"It's louder from our room," said Ty, dropping the pillow back on the bed. "You know it is. And tomorrow's Saturday, you don't have to get up early. Come on, Anders."

"Why me?" demanded Anders. "Go bother Mike."

"I want story," insisted Axl.

Anders dropped his head back down. A mistake – he'd forgotten he'd thrown his pillow at Ty. A loud thunk sounded.

Axl giggled. "Anders said bad word!"

Anders all but snarled at him. "You even think of ratting me out and I'll throw you out the window."

"No you won't."

"I'll throw Dippy."

Axl's eyes widened, and he clutched his stuffed dinosaur more tightly. "No!"

"Try me."

"Then story?"

Anders groaned. That had been a big mistake. It had been worse than usual one day and Axl had started crying. Partly to distract him but mostly to shut him up, Anders had told him the story of Robin Hood. It was one of Anders's own favourites, except for the bit where they gave the money away. Unfortunately since then Axl had badgered him for more.

"Please, Anders?" begged Axl.

"Yeah, please," said Ty.

"And what's your excuse, Ty? Is big brave Ty scared too?"

"Yes," said Ty. "I don't want to hear them either. And neither do you."

Anders threw back the covers. "All right, that's it. Mike can take you."

Stomping out of the room, he went down the corridor to Mike's room. "Mike!" He banged on the door. "I don't care if you're in the nuddy, I'm coming in!"

"What on earth-?" Mike sat up in bed, blinking against the light. "Unless the house is on fire, I'm going to kick your –"

"Can we have party?" Axl said excitedly, who had trailed behind Anders and now ran and jumped onto Mike's bed. "Party in Mike's room!"

"Sure," said Anders. "He'll tell you stories too. I'm going to bed good night."

"No you don't," said Ty, pushing him in and closing the door. "Tonight is family time."

"And Mike will be the family. I want to sleep."

"Nuh uh," said Mike, grasping the situation pretty quickly. "If I'm not allowed to sleep neither are you. Axl, if Anders doesn't stay I won't tell anything and you can all go back to bed."

Anders threw a soccer ball at Mike, who caught it easily. "Tool."

"You brought me into this." Mike lobbed it back under his desk.

Scowling, Anders flopped down on Mike's bed. "Okay, fine. I'm here."

"Now what's up with you kids?" said Mike as Axl crawled into his lap.

"Don't want to listen."

"Listen to wha- oh. Okay. Right, so what did you want to do?"

"A story would be nice," said Ty, plopping down on the bed as well. Between the four of them there was hardly any space left, especially since Anders had deliberately stretched himself out and refused to budge no matter how much Axl flailed at him with his two-year-old fists. At least Anders wasn't that big.

"A …" Mike stifled a yawn, "… a story? That's sort of Anders's territory."

"And I don't want to tell a story, which is why we're all here," said Anders without opening his eyes. "Do I look like a kindergarten teacher?"

"Who knows, if you had a decent rack and a floral dress…"

Anders punched the nearest bit of Mike he could reach, which turned out to be his shin.

"Ow! My knuckles!"

"What's rack?"

"Never mind, Axl."

"That hurt!"

"Serves you right," said Mike, settling against the headboard. "Okay, how about not a story?"

"No arm-wrestling, thanks," said Ty.

"No rock paper scissors." Axl hugged Dippy and stuck his thumb in his mouth.

"You make me sound so boring," said Mike, pulling Axl's thumb out.

"You are so boring."

"Shut up Anders. Okay then, how about, um …" Mike stifled another yawn.

Axl patted him on the cheek none too gently. "Mike don't sleep!"

"My eyes were open!"

"No they weren't," said Anders.

"Your eyes closed too!" said Axl accusingly.

"No they weren't."

"Yes they closed right now!" Axl smacked Anders in the stomach, open-handed.

"Ow! What is _with_ this family!" spluttered Anders, bolting upright. "I didn't come here to be abused, are we clear on that? If I get hit just one more time, I'm going to shove the cricket bat up -"

"Stuff it, Anders," said Mike. "All right, listen up. Axl, leave Anders alone in case he starts crying. How about … let's plan what we'll do if we have a million bucks each."

Ty's eyes lit up. "A million bucks?"

"Now you're talking," said Anders, lying back down.

"Lego," said Axl. "And and go beach."

"Just that?" said Mike. "A million dollars is a lot of money, you could wind up with a thousand boxes of Lego. Anything else you want?"

Axl thought for a moment, his nose wrinkled. "Can I have dolphin?"

Even Anders laughed. "No, Axl, you can't have a dolphin."

"Then can I have monkey?"

"You are a monkey."

"Anders."

"How about you, Mike?" asked Ty.

"Me?" Mike thought for a moment. "I'd start a casino. Those things make heaps of money. Or a bar, I could get free booze all the time."

"Ooh, nice," said Anders. "Plus there'll always be hot chicks there."

"Ty, mate?"

"I'd buy a house," said Ty. "A big one. Then Dad can stay in this one and Mum and us can move to the new one."

"Or Mum and Dad could stay in this one and we could have the new house," said Anders.

"Not funny," said Ty.

"Wasn't joking."

"Your turn," said Mike. "What would you do?"

"Why a million?" asked Anders. "If we're gonna dream, we might as well dream big."

"I said a million. Just play along, it's not as though changing the numbers will make it come true."

"I'd buy an island," said Anders. "I saw it on TV once, you can buy a small island for like half a million. I'd live there with a bunch of hot chicks and nobody can visit me."

"I want to go!"

"Fine, maybe Axl can come," amended Anders. "Sometimes. Only when invited."

"How about me?" asked Ty.

"Yeah, okay you too. But only because you're good at mopping the kitchen."

Ty rolled his eyes. Mike didn't ask if he'd be invited.

They sat and listened to the wind howling sharply, each of them thinking about the pictures they had drawn.

"You know what I'd really like?" said Ty. "A holiday, all of us, and Dad wouldn't be drinking or yelling. We could go skiing or something."

"Yeah?" said Mike.

"Me too," said Axl, rubbing his eyes as he spoke. "I wanna go … wanna go up to place … what's it, Mike? I always forgetted."

"Tongariro National Park," said Mike softly.

"Yes, 'cause they don't fight there…"

"No, they just happened not to fight on that one day," muttered Anders.

"Shut up."

"… they don't fight there, and we can have picnic."

"Sounds like a plan," said Mike, tousling Axl's hair.

"And … and we'll picnic the whole day and eat and play ball … and lollies and ice-cream…"

"We don't need a million bucks to do that, Axl," said Mike as Axl snuggled into him.

"We'd need a miracle," said Anders, but this time he said it under his breath so that nobody heard him, and the three of them watched their baby brother's eyelids drooping.

"They've stopped," said Ty, yawning too.

"I hadn't noticed," said Mike. "Sounds like you're right."

"Think …" Ty hesitated. "Think they'll ever stop?"

"Positive," said Mike. "What country would you go to?"

"Switzerland, maybe," said Ty, turning on his side and pillowing his head under his arm. "They've been at peace since before World War One, did you know that?"

"It's a pretty place too," said Mike.

"I saw pictures once," said Ty, yawning. "But I don't really care if we don't even leave New Zealand..."

"Can't sleep here, Ty," said Mike, but Ty's eyes had already closed.

Anders shut his eyes too, but Mike prodded him with a toe. "I'm not carrying _you_ back to bed, so forget it."

"I _know_," snarled Anders.

They were quiet for a while.

"Positive, huh," said Anders.

"Yes."

"Liar."

Careful not to wake Axl, Mike rested his head against the wall and stared at the ceiling. "Depends on how you see it. They'll stop some day, one way or another."

"You mean – ah. Either they patch things up – which is pretty much never going to happen –"

"Or somebody leaves," said Mike.

"Or one of them kills the other."

"Don't say that," said Mike sharply.

Anders folded his hands behind his head. "Don't tell me it's never crossed your mind."

"I don't want it to cross theirs." Mike jerked his head at the other two.

"Sure, whatever."

Outside, the night was quiet.

"Really, what would you do?" asked Anders. "A million bucks."

"I'd invest it," said Mike. "Something steady that's guaranteed to make money. Property, maybe. I'd give Axl his picnic, give Ty his holiday. Get Mum and Dad counselling or something."

Anders snorted. "You really think that'll work?"

"Better than nothing." Mike shifted a little; the weight of Ty's head was making his right leg go numb. "You? What would you really do?"

Anders sat up, swung his legs over the bed. He looked down at Ty, curled up into a ball at the foot of the bed; Axl burrowed into Mike's side; Mike looking at him, waiting for his answer.

"I'd buy an island," said Anders. He left, but he shut the door behind him quietly.

* * *

**In my head-canon there's a reason for the already present tension between Anders and Mike, but that's another story.**


End file.
